Bill O’Brien, Patriots Reunion Rumors Intensify: OC In 2023?

The former Patriots offensive coordinator is reportedly a “strong option” to take the reins of the team’s offense next season.

FOXBORO — The New England Patriots may be open to reuniting with a familiar face to fix their offensive woes. 

Per a Saturday morning report from NFL Network, Houston Texans head coach, current offensive coordinator of the Alabama Crimson Tide, and branch of the Bill Belichick coaching tree, Bill O’Brien is a “strong option” to return to his former home as New England’s offensive coordinator in 2023. 

Following the departure of long-time offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, the New England Patriots were expected to seek the services of an experienced replacement from outside the organization. O’Brien’s name was on the media’s short list of potential candidates. 

Ultimately, New England elected not to pursue O’Brien, opting instead to use a ‘committee’ approach, headlined by offensive line coach Matt Patricia and quarterbacks coach Joe Judge.  

Though he may be remembered for his recent struggles as both head coach and general manager of the Houston Texans, O’Brien is a quite accomplished offensive coach. In addition to his time with the Patriots, Texans and Crimson Tide, he spent two successful seasons at the helm of the Penn State Nittany Lions.

With McDaniels taking his talents to the Las Vegas Raiders, O'Brien was considered to be the most logical choice to succeed him. Despite the blemishes on his head coaching resume in Houston, O’Brien helped navigate a Patriots offense, which featured ball protection, efficient running and spreading the ball to multiple pass catchers; including a fearsome two-tight-end-set of Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. O’Brien was thought to be the ideal coach to find similar success with New England’s current tight-end-tandem of Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith.

He also has familiarity with an offensive system designed to accentuate the abilities of quarterback Mac Jones. Having spent the past pair of seasons as Alabama’s offensive coordinator under head coach Nick Saban, O’Brien ran a similar scheme for the Crimson Tide in 2021. This, combined with his previous experience working under Belichick, would lessen his initiation period with New England.

Ironically, the familiarity among the trio may have been what prevented O’Brien from returning to the organization prior to the start of the 2022 season. According to a previous report from Boston Sports Journal, Belichick’s close relationship with Alabama coach Nick Saban is likely to have precluded his request to interview O’Brien for the vacant offensive coordinator position.

However, these recent reports have begun to rekindle the flames in the Foxboro rumor mill … and for good reason.

Heading into 2022 without a designated coordinator was an odd strategy for the Patriots. To date, it has been met with mixed results, at best. Though it has not been the disaster some may have predicted, the Patriots offense is ranked near the bottom of the league in total offense and red zone scoring percentage. As such, it may be safe to assume that the Patriots may not be abundantly eager to maintain the status-quo on offense in 2023.

If so, a potential reunion between the two sides may make too much sense not to come to fruition.

In the meantime, New England (7-7) are set for a Week 16 matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals (10-4) on Christmas Eve. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. ET from Gillette Stadium.

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Follow Mike D’Abate on Twitter @mdabateNFL and Listen/Subscribe to his daily podcast: Locked On Patriots

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